Traffic signal



Nov. 13, 1928.

B. FUHRER TRAFFIC SIGNAL Filed Nov. 18, 1927 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Nov. 13, 1928. 1,691,344

B. 'FUHRER TRAFFIC smrm. Filed Nov. 18, 1927 s Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Nov. 13, 1928.

[1.- (.2 .11 3 My; V BERNARD FUHRER, OF YORK, N. Y.

ether.

I This invention relates totrafiie signals and lily improvements are; directed to means \i'liei. hy t'he 'flow o'f trafiie may he'hutoniafi 'eally regulated t e varied. 'aceording toQthe phi ioulai' eirciinistimoe surrounding the problem, o; e v I At the present ti'iiie he problem of trttffie eofltrolhas been p'artial solved by the sta of tii'flie directors at interseeting streets ftfiCl also by the i'iisttillat'ioii oi elaborate'sys'teins of signals extencliiig long arterial highways generally leaclii g' from the den tiers of dense po ulation "to (haying Sections. The former method, sometimes terin eil hi1 manlyeontmued traflic e'quire's the 'expeiiditure of considerable ii 'afiuhl labor, tvhilelth'e latter [entails the acio' 'ue'n or it complicated I expensive system. i

7 In an attempt to advance theeolution of this pi'o'b'leihI have developed a trafiic signal whichsubsta'rrt ian is a unitwithinitself. That is, the operatin p wer therefor is a part thereof and While the eleviee maybe p6sitiofiec'lin series aleh 1101 Wor'kiiigof the 'sai'n'e is netfairecuyresponsive to its eo1nf )anion, tl1ough in pemtiohl the series \"vi'll res'poiid to the paitieularsettiiig of the signal. Inother Words, the long li'r'ies ofc'oiicluit's me c'ohnect'io'fis, new in use; "1e dispensed w'i'th and the failure of to" M crate does not iii any Why'affecttlie remainder of the wn 'le. V Another problefiijeonfroiitiiig the traffic (liroot-o1: IS the peeitiening or locating of the siigiials interections and while s'oi 'iejinstance permit the placem nto fithes de iee's Gene-guy of the intersettt'ioiis, quite frequent-1y it is necessary to s'tatioii the signals at the In the first hist anc'e, as uming new e'o'i'iiers. that an automatic sigiia'l is-Juseti, a place tl'ierefor may be found centrall of the inter: se'tion and in this Case said signal may co n prise a casing having a cruciflirm shape. Howeven in other iii'st'an'oe's the sign'als must be placed at the hO-I'IXGLS', {IS aforesaid; the casings having oppositely (lireotei'l sight openings to take care of, let us s; y, lioithaiitl south traiiie, While the; east autl westti'allic is controlled by a siniilar device preferably loateiat a diagonal o'rner; 4 1

My device has beeh. adapted to'meet these; chsesand while the preferrecl 'eiiih'ocli m'ent, as shown in the drawings; depicts a casihg having oppositely arranged. openings' it will of course he understood that theslight mammtioli necessary to change the device into a' ings being "shown.

low cost of production and the extremely rea sonable'wihstilllation andmaintenance e i;--

pense'. v and after settiiigrequirsb'ut little 'attefiti'on on the part of the operator.

\Vith these 'ohjets in view togfether with others which will appear asthe description proeeedsythe invention iesides in tlie novel formation; combination, and arrangement of parts, all as'will befdesoribed more fully hereinafter; illustrated in the drawings, and parti'oularly pointed out in the claims.

In saiclzclrawingsz Figure 1 is. a; front elevationof the. casing the preferred arrangement oftwo sight open- F i'g. 2 is a horizontal centrali sectional view through the czising shown in Fig". 1, some of the operating parts being shown in plan:

Fig. SJis a front elevation otithe easing Wh'ifchis sii'nil'ar ,tothat howii in Fig. 1 with the exception that tour sight openings are usofl.

Fig; 6 is a seotionaltletail of one of the. imi'ng gears, and

Fig. 7 is a detail View of the rotatable 1 Referring how in detail to the accompany ingdrawiligs, wherein'like characters of reference denote; similar "parts. thfohgh'out the, several views, let 15 denote generally the body portion, ofthe oasinghiwhieh Comprises the intermediate portion 16 EhHdtVV Q .siniilar end portionsll' and 18, eachhhinggoiiied to said intermediate portion; by fianging vthe abutting surfaces thereof and sechrifigtogether by means of screws or other fhstning means,

1 The clevicejie positiw 'in operatioil 4. is a Vertical ceii'tral sectional vieW of thecasing sho'vviii tFl 3,-W1tl1'tll8 op i as indicated at 19 and 20. flhisconstruction will readily be understood upon inspection of Fig. 2 and it will be noted that such an arrangement permits convenient access to the casing, at either end, in the event repairs or replacements are to bemade, or the casing cleaned interiorly.

The front portions of each of the ends 17 and 18 are depressed inwardly'toform a rim 21 which bears against a portion of the lens 22, adjacent the periphery thereof, while partitions 23, secured to the end portions 17; and 18, as indicated at 24 and 25, abut the opposite marginal sides of said lens 22, and centrally support the latter by means of the bolts 26 and 27 passing through apertures disposed in both lens andpartitions. As shown in Fig. l, the lens, at both ends of the casing, are provided with bulging portions 28 and 29, disposed in the same horizontal plane and lying directly over apertures 30 and 31 ormed in partitions 23. Thuslight from any source of illumination within the casing may only be seen through these openings.

The casing disclosed above is thus provided with oppositely disposed end portions, each havingiapair of exposedopenings, this type of casing being adaptable for mounting at diagonal corners of. intersections, and as will presently appear it is my idea to inter-T mittently show a red or greenlight through said openings by means of a rotatable screen under control of certain mechanism. The mechanism for controlling the rotatable screens 32 and 33, is inclosed in a h0using 34, see Fig. 2, which has been shown as removed in Fig.4, said mechanism comprising a clock-work, partially shown some what diagrannnatically, supported by standards 35 and 36,-secured to the casing as indicated at 37 the power from the mechanism intermittently rotating a. stub shaft 38 extending a short distance beyond said standards 35 and 36, (see 2 and 4). At this timeattention is directed to the fact that the mechanism or parts about to be described are duplicated in the device. That is, the set of parts extending to theright and left of the mechanism contained in the casing 34,

operate in unison to direct information to the oppositely flowing traffic, and in View of this duplication and similar mode of operation, only one set will be described in detail as follows.

Rotatatively connected to said stub shaft 38 is a selector element 39 having asocket portion 40 to effect said connection, and being provided with diametrically opposed arms 41 and 42 having lateral projections 43' and 44 cooperating with a control disk 45 carried by shaft 46 mounted in bearing 47,. the outer end of said shaft 46 carrying in one instance the screen 32. The coupling up of said shafts 38 and 46, for the ultimate rotationof either screen 32 or 33, is effected by the engagement of the lateral projections 43 and 44 with ears 48 and 49 oppositely disposed on the periphcry of said disk 45 (see Fig. 5), as will be pointed out during the discussion of the operation of the signal.

The bearing 47 rises from a standard 50 having its base portion 51 suitably secured to the casing, and for the screens 32 and 33, it will be observed that each comprises two oppositelydisposed units 52 and 53 embodying rims 54 and 55 supporting green and red glass 56 and 57, respectively and joined by the medial portion 58 formed with a boss 59 fixedly carried by said shaft 46. These screen units are, of course, adapted to be timed for rotation in front of openings 30 and 31 and in view of the illuminating means 60, suitably arranged within the casing the colors of the screens maybe seen through the lens 22 at suitable intervals. p In the form of lens shown in Fig. 3, four openings will be provided 1n the partitions 23 which will necessitate the provision of the two vertically disposed bulged portions 61 and 62. In other respects the device is quite similar.

The power to drive the mechanism may be any power known to be adaptable to thatpurpose. In this instance a key 63 has been shown which may be manually operated. to wind a suitable spring arrangement carried in a closure 64, secured to a toothed wheel 65, mounted on shaft 66, the teeth of which mesh with a lantern pinion 66 operatively connected to shaft 38. Upon inspection of Fig. 6,, it will be observed that said wheel is provided with sixteen peripheral teeth 68, equally spaced, and when one of these teeth contact with any one of the rods 69, it will require sixty. seconds to pass sameand at the moment of its passingthe next tooth contacts.

with another rod, but the spring (or other source of power), causes the wheel 65 to exert its full power on shaft 38, thus turning the selector element 39 snap fashion, causing the projections 43 and 44 to contact with ears 48 and 49 of control disk 45 and finally rotating thescreen units 52 and 53 to either a horizontal or vertical position as the setting of the operating will permit.

If necessary I may apply-any well-known form of registering or stopping means in order to assure the proper alinement of the screen units; The remainder of the gears and wheel devices in the driving mechanism simply act as a shock absorber when the gear 65 leaves the rods of'the lantern pinion.

I11 the cruciform arrangement, I propose to provide the stub shaft 38 with bevel gears which may enmeshwith a pair of oppositely disposed gears mounted on suitable shafts extending at right angles to said shaft 38 and terminating with screen units, as in my preferred form. p

\Vhile thepresent is a disclosure of the preferred embodiment of the invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto as various changes in the minor details of construction, proportion and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1; In a traffic signal, a casing presenting a series of openings disposed in the opposite sides thereof, a double unit screen member adapted to rotate before each of said openings for exhibiting a selected color signal and means for intermittently and simultaneously operatin said screens.

2. In a trafiic signal, a casing presenting an intermediate portion and two end portions, each of said end portions being provided With a series of oppositely disposed openings,

rotatable screen members adapted to exhibit a selected color signal through a selected opening and means for intermittently and simultaneously operating said screens.

3. In atratlic signal, a casing presenting a series of openings disposed in the opposite ends thereof, screens located inwardly of each series and adapted to exhibit color signals in opposite directions and means positioned intermediate said screens and adapted to int-ermittently and simultaneously align the same With selected openings.

4. In a trafiic signal, a casing comprising an intermediate portion and end portions having a series of oppositely disposed openings therein, lens removably mounted before said openings, rotatable screens comprising units and adapted to exhibit a selected color signal through said openings, and means for intermittently operating said units and comprising'timing gears variably synchronized.

5. In a trafiic signal, a casing, comprising an intermediate section and end portions, partitions mounted in said end portions. and having a series of openings, a lens removably positioned in front of each opening, rotatable screens comprising units adapted to exhibit a selected color signal through a selected opening and means for intermittently oper ating said screens and to position the same in alignment with said openings.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

BERNARD FUHRER. 

